Smartwatches are changing the world just as the smartphones and personal computers long before them. Though initially released as an extension of smartphones, they now have a flurry of features that the latter can never match.
Wearable tech has a promising future, no surprise that big tech companies like Samsung, Apple, and now Google have been investing billions of dollars in it. It is only a matter of time, smartwatches would become a necessity like smartphones these days.
Do you own a smartwatch? If not, the benefits of having a smartwatch can change your heart.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
10 Benefits of Using a Smart Watch:
Notifications Alert:
This feature has been in smartwatches for almost 5-7 years and now has become a baseline feature even for budget smartwatches. For instance, even the $25 Wyze Watch can show notifications.
The smartwatch needs to be connected to your phone via bluetooth. You can customize notifications on many smartwatches these days to only get the important ones on your wrist.
This handy feature allows you to have a sneak peak into the social media and phone notifications without having to take out your smartphone.
Contactless Payment:
Apple and Samsung were the first to introduce NFC payment into smartwatches. We have the following contactless payment on the smartwatches.
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Samsung Pay
- Fitbit Pay
- Garmin Pay
The first three mentions a wide range of supported countries and banks. Not to mention, these payment services depend on the particular ecosystem.
Contactless payment on smartwatches make the whole process of paying a bus fare and buying items at utility stores a breeze. Plus, it is an excellent backup if you accidently left your phone/wallet at home.
Music:
Smartwatches have evolved greatly from the music remote control device. Now, the premium ones have music storage. The Apple Watch takes the lead here by offering a max storage of 32 GB on its latest series.
Apart from the storage onboard, popular smartwatches have music streaming services integrated into them. Apple watches have “Apple Music’, Wear OS watches have ‘Google Play Music’, Garmin has some of the best smartwatches with Spotify and Amazon Music support. Fitbit has apps for Spotify, Deezer, and Pandora.
Apart from music, you can listen to Audiobooks and podcasts.
Calling and Texting:
Apple popularized the calling and texting feature through its LTE variants. Samsung and Fossil follow suit. Their premium watches have 4G/LTE connectivity to call and text without having the phone around.
Smartwatches don’t have physical sims, but rather rely on the eSIM technology to send messages and call. The LTE connectivity allows you to browse the web on smartwatches. Though the tiny screen doesn’t promise a good experience.
It is only a matter of time that popular social messengers would make their way to smartwatches. Even today you can reply to messages on Whatsapp (Samsung Galaxy Watch 4).
Voice Assistant:
The introduction of speakers and microphones on the smartwatches make way for the Voice assistants. All popular Voice assistants are available for wearable devices. Namely,
- Apple’s Siri
- Google Assistant
- Samsung’s Bixby
- Amazon’s Alexa
These smart voice assistants allow you to control the increasingly IoT devices at home and make navigation on the smartwatch effortless.
Fitness and Health:
Activity tracking on smartwatches has evolved to become full-fledged health tracking. You might be surprised to know that most smartwatches these days can track heart rate, sleep and stress, blood oxygen, and even the ECG.
Last month, Samsung released Galaxy Watch 4 with the latest BIA sensor to track body composition, a feature previously exclusive to smart scales.
Though these features are not a replacement for a regular visit to your physician, with time they have been becoming highly accurate.
GPS navigation:
Smartwatches these days are very much capable of offering you turn-by-turn navigations. And they don’t even have to be connected to your smartphones.
In the past, your watch used the resources of your smartphone to display maps. Things have changed with the introduction of onboard GPS tracking. Garmin went a step ahead to include a wide variety of satellite navigation on its wearables (GLONASS, GALILEO, BEIDOU).
Now, you can accurately track your movement on the smartwatch, and these handy features save you the trouble of towing your smartphone around when out for a run or workout.
Fall Detection and Emergency Call:
Folks who are anxious about the safety of their elders or kids can take advantage of the fall detection feature found on most smartwatches.
There is a sensor in these watches that detects each fall and alerts the users, and when the users fail to respond to these alerts, it leaves a message with live location to their selected list of family members or friends.
This can be a life-saving feature for many.
Sports Tracking:
Garmin, Polar, and Suunto popularized niche-specific sports watches in the market. There are now smartwatches dedicated to running, swimming, and outdoor adventures.
Sports tracking on smartwatches is highly accurate and reliable, and if you still have your doubts, some watches offer you to add external sensors to your smartwatch.
Fashion:
Smartwatches double as a fashion wearable. Most of them can be customized by swapping the bands thanks to the Quick-release mechanism.
It is no surprise the Fashion focused Fossil Group has long made the switch to smartwatches. Fossil Group, which includes popular names like Emporio Armani, Diesel, Skagen Falster, and Puma, has proved that Fashion smartwatches have a lucrative market.
Are Smartwatches Worth It?
The decent competition in the smartwatch market these days has brought down the price making it more affordable to average buyers. And as most of the smartwatches these days double as activity and fitness trackers, they have been becoming increasingly lucrative. Features like standalone calling and texting, voice assistant, NFC payment make the smartwatch a worthy investment.
You may be interested in: How could a smartwatch help to improve your health?
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